CNN Online – Mini Interview With Kevin
Cinescape.Com – “Silent But Deadly”
The Amazing Colossal Website – SEVERAL Articles, Starting HERE
TVGuide.Com – “Mark Hamill Spoofs Star Wars”

The ABC’s (ACTOR, Burton, Chicago)

ACTOR

ACTOR (A Commitment to Our Roots) is a charity that Jim McLaughlin at Wizard set up on behalf of old comic book pros who’ve fallen on financially hard times, even though they created characters that’ve populated the four color pages for decades. To help out, View Askew and ACTOR are going to be holding two charity screenings of ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’ on Saturday the 18th, at WizardCon in Chicago. Fifteen bucks will get you one of the two hundred seats at either a 7:00pm or an 11:00 pm screening (that’s four hundred seats total). Both Jay and I will be in attendance (at both the Con itself and the screenings). Tickets will go on sale after my panel.

BURTON

Lest anyone think some sort of holy jihad is brewing betwixt me and the mighty Tim, I’d like to set the record straight here.

I’ve always enjoyed the films of Tim Burton to varying degrees. Nothing’s going to change that.

Yes – I worked on a ‘Superman Lives’ script that he shit-canned when he got the gig helming it. Yes – I’ve told a very long-winded story about the saga of ‘Superman’ at college gigs, comic book conventions, the Stern show, and on Conan O’Brien (only when asked about it, though). Yes – I’ve signed many a bootleg copy of my ‘Superman Lives’ script “Fuck Tim Burton,” (with tongue firmly planted in cheek).

But, no – I do not think the ‘Planet of the Apes’ ending was stolen from the Jay and Silent Bob mini-series ‘Chasing Dogma’, nor am I thinking about taking anyone to court. I called the similarities (which I believe are simply coincidental) to the attention of my good friend Lou Loumenick over at the NY Post and made a few jokey comments about being pissed and litigious that seem to have been taken seriously by a slew of other news outlets (doesn’t anybody pick up a phone to confirm shit anymore, rather than just poaching a piece out of another paper?). This story has gotten way out of hand.

If Tim, indeed, made that statement about never wanting to read anything I created (although, in truth, the statement didn’t come directly from his lips; it was provided by the office of his publicist, Bumble Ward), that’s fine. I’ll still be there on opening day for any Tim Burton movie, and I urge you all to do the same. Because, whether he tells a coherent story or not, he’s still one of the most interesting (albeit testy, apparently) directors working today. And that should always be supported.

So please, folks – let’s drop the call to arms against the guy who gave us ‘Beetlejuice’ just because he’s not a fan of my stuff. Shit, if you’re gonna go on the war-path against every motherfucker who doesn’t care for my particular brand of whimsy, you’ll never have enough energy left to get your asses to the theater on August 24th when ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’ opens.

That’s my ham-fisted way of letting you know that the release date for the flick has been changed yet again. Yes, folks – the flick now opens on Friday, August 24th as originally planned – not on the 22nd. Long story. Don’t ask. Just go. Please.

In other news, today I taped a bunch of wrap-arounds for IFC’s ‘Talking During the Movie’. It airs next week, I believe. Following that, I taped a bunch of wrap-arounds for MTV2. Yesterday, I taped wrap-arounds for the Comedy Central airing of ‘Half Baked’ (which airs right after the ‘Reel Comedy with Jay and Silent Bob’ special).

I’m the wrap-around king.

Tomorrow, Jay and I shoot some commercial spots for the movie, to augment the TV campaign. I’ve watched some excellent new spots this evening that’ll start airing next week, when the MAJOR ad-buy kicks in.

All looks just about set for the opening – two weeks from yesterday.

Since I’m back-and-forth between coasts (and Austin and Chicago) for the next two weeks, we won’t be having a Board screening of the flick in Jersey unfortunately. This bums me out, as it had become something of a tradition since ‘Amy’. If this changes over the course of the next week, I’ll let you know.

That’s all for now.

There is a belief among some black comics that audiences find it funny when they launch extended insults against white people (see also Chris Rock’s embarrassing outburst in the forthcoming “Jay and Silent Bob”). My feeling is that audiences of any race find such scenes awkward and unwelcome; I’ve never heard laughter during them, but have sensed an uncomfortable alertness in the theater. Accusing complete strangers of being racist is aggressive, hostile, and not funny, something Tucker demonstrates to a painful degree in this movie–where the filmmakers apparently lacked the nerve to request him to dial down.

_Jay_and_Silent_Bob_Strike_Back_ *** 1/2

More than other filmmaker in recent memory, writer-director Kevin Smith is unusually receptive and accessible to his rabid (and consistently growing) fanbase. The discussion board on his official website (viewaskew.com) is legendary for the amount of interaction he has with fans; and public appearances and autograph signings are far from rare occurrences, with the latter usually extending hours beyond their allotted time blocks in order to accommodate every last person in line. But even Smith has outdone himself in terms of giving back to his public with the wild comic romp _Jay_&_Silent_Bob_Strike_Back_, which behind its outrageous surface is an affectionate valentine to those who have loyally followed him and his work over the years.

So for this film more than any of his others, it certainly is beneficial (though just as certainly not necessary) to walk in with some prior knowledge of Smith’s “View Askew-niverse,” which officially closes with _Strike_Back_. The title characters, foulmouthed drug dealer Jay (Jason Mewes) and his laconic “hetero lifemate” Silent Bob (Smith), are the Askew-niverse’s most beloved figures, having appeared in all of Smith’s previous films in capacities small (_Clerks_, _Chasing_Amy_) and larger (_Mallrats_, _Dogma_). _Strike_Back_ gives the pair their long-due turn on center stage, and in an added bonus for the fandom, resurfacing especially for this occasion are other popular characters from those four films. Needless to say, only those with some Smith oeuvre familiarity will fully appreciate the appearances of people such as _Clerks_’ Dante and Randal (respectively played by Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson), who to the VA-virgin eye would seem to be just bit players.

The significance of _Amy_’s Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee, who also turns in an appearance as the best thing about _Mallrats_, Brodie Bruce), however, won’t be lost on any newcomers, for they nudge Jay and Silent Bob–the movie and the characters–into action. _Bluntman_and_Chronic_, the superhero comic book Holden and Banky modeled in the likeness of Jay and Bob, is about to be adapted into a film without our dynamic duo’s permission, and so they set off on a cross-country trip from New Jersey to Hollywood to stop the production. Obviously, the more serious overtones of Smith’s last two efforts, _Amy_ and _Dogma_, are nowhere to be found in _Strike_Back_, and don’t come in looking for some innovations in plotting, either; the film is simply a road/chase comedy that wants nothing more than to make the audience laugh.

And are there ever laughs to be had in _Strike_Back_. Indeed, Smith’s famous (infamous?) predilection for dick and fart jokes is very much in evidence (though, thankfully, there’s nothing here approaching the scatological nadir of _Dogma_’s Golgothan), yet while he may have gained a fair amount of notoriety for that lowbrow brand of humor, his greatest strength has always been the rapier wit of his dialogue, whenever raunchy or not. On the receiving end of many of the film’s best verbal barbs is the glitzy world of Tinseltown moviemaking. No one is shielded from the hysterical satirical onslaught: not Internet gossip sites; not Affleck, who gamely pulls double duty as Holden and himself; not the film’s distributor, Miramax; not even _Jay_and_Silent_Bob_Strikes_Back_ and the View Askew canon itself, and as such the fourth wall is not only broken, but flat out bulldozed. Lest the film sound extremely insular with all its in-jokes and Hollywood insider humor, _Jay_and_Silent_Bob_Strike_Back_ also offers a number of broader-appeal delights, particularly in the performance department. That Mewes and Smith have their act down by now is no surprise; Mewes invests his usual gusto into every last one of Jay’s four-letter words and vulgar gestures, which are, as always, countered with expert reaction takes by Smith. What is surprising, though, is Shannon Elizabeth’s beguiling turn as the sweet Justice, who falls for Jay as she and her more sour friends Sissy (Eliza Dushku), Chrissy (Ali Larter), and Missy (Jennifer Schwalbach, Smith’s wife) spend time on the road with him and Bob. Other colorful characters pop up throughout the course of the film, the standouts being Will Ferrell’s clueless Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly and Chaka (Chris Rock), a militant African-American film director; and a multitude of stars recognizable to all audiences turn up in some enjoyable cameos. The polished and at times–brace yourselves–slick visuals of _Strike_Back_, undoubtedly due in large part to cinematographer Jamie Anderson, will be downright shocking to Smith fans and especially to his detractors, who will find themselves with one less thing to knock him on. I’m sure they will come up with plenty of compensatory ammunition in the content of the film–or rather lack thereof. With its shameless (and not always successful) riffs on other movies, frequent references to his own previous work, and slant toward broad antics in general, even Smith has called _Strike_Back_ “a step backward” in his progression as a filmmaker. To hell with any perceived requirements for “artistic growth,” I say, if stagnation and regression are done in the name of offering a good time at the movies–and _Jay_and_Silent_Bob_Strike_Back_ is nothing less than a rollicking blast.

(This film is not yet rated; opens August 24)